PIONERO CARMENÈRE RESERVA

£8 lavino.co.uk

Very powerful nose! Herbs, graphite, oak, figs? Blackberry perhaps? Smells heady, like it's very alcoholic but only 13.5% Incredible depth and power. Feels very savoury (is that the oak?), fruit not obvious to me. 

From the producer:

VINEYARDThe grapes come from the Romeral Vineyard in the Maipo Valley and were picked in late April and early May. A large proportion of the soils are alluvial with the presence of gravel and a significant clay content. The vines are vertically positioned and double guyot pruned. Harvest took place in mid-April.
WINERYThe grapes were crushed and immediately fermented at up to 28C with 12 days on skins. Twenty percent of the wine was aged in fifth-use oak barrels (French and American) for six months before blending and bottling.

Seems odd that this grape has been mistaken for Merlot for so long? Can they really be that similar in their characteristics? A pure Merlot should be next. 

Zweigelt

Leafy, dry, vegetal, a lot like cab franc. Acidic finish, sour cherry very satisfying and refreshing.

£29 at the table in The Reliance. 

Gamay

Two gamays, similar price but wildly different levels of quality. The Deboeuf was really thin, even for a gamay. No nose to speak of, very high acidity.

The village is a also in fact a Deboeuf under the Chateau des Vierries label. Couldn't be more different. Some pencil lead like nose with ripe (baked?) raspberry. High acidity but in a balanced way that seemed really refreshing to me. £10.50 LaVino. 

Loghi Rosso IGT Toscana 2016

Given the eye watering price that Tuscan's seem to start at. I think this represents a 'lower end' wine but still ~ £15 (Martinez Wines).




Made near Montalcino, about 20km south of Sienna. 70% Sangiovese and 30% Merlot. 



It is very dry. The tannins feel rustic. There is some forest floor, clay, cedar (the Merlot?). The fruit is restrained, slightly sour-cherry edge which I guess comes from the sangiovese? It went very well with braised brisket.

My experience of Italian reds remains negligible but I'd say it conforms to the rest of the examples within that (very limited) sample: dry, satisfying, slightly tart and expensive! These wines must be a nightmare to mass-market.

Plan de l'homme, Sapiens 2012, Terrasses du Larzac

18.00€. Bought at the celler after discussion with Rémi Duchemin - the proprietor.

Not quite his flagship (I think there was another Syrah at 20 odd € that involved carbonic maceration?) but the most pricey of the three I bought from him.

Thankfully the second bottle was much better than the first (drank 3/12 ago).

Rich, sliky bramble fruit. Some black olive. Herby, dry.

Good, but the his 'Hablis' was better, despite being €4 cheaper.

Rémi was very good humoured about my error strewn attempts to find his place (eventually coming out onto the road to flag me down) as we're my family.

Les Caves Moliere, Lord Clive 2013

Another bargain from the Pezenas cooperative. I think I paid about €6 per bottle, bringing back as much as I could.

The significance of Lord Clive is explained here:

http://tastelanguedoc.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/two-very-french-experiences.html?m=1

Amusing to think that what's essentially a curried pasty has attained the status of regional delicacy.

Anyway, to the wine. 100% chardonnay, some time spent in oak, which you really can taste. It has an intense vanilla nose. Plenty of body but still dry on the finish. The fruit is perhaps dominated by the oak? I suspect white burgundy aficionados would find it vulgar but I love it. Immensely satisfying.

Some similarities with Iona (http://www.sawinesonline.co.uk/iona-chardonnay.html) at a fraction of the cost.

Cave de Tain, Crozes-Hermitage, 2014

£13, M&S. 100% Marsanne, no oak.

Shit, surprisingly so.

Bought on Matt Wells' advice that white Rhone would be a good accompaniment for blue cheese soufflé, this was a huge disappointment.

Really high acidity, thin and downright sharp.

A very, very far cry from the Brezeme.

Further evidence that white burgundy is more satisfying and reliable at this price point?

Schisterelle Coup de Coeur 2011 Faugeres

Last one. Drank on Jan 1st with DL. Without doubt the most fruity, satisfying red from my whole Faugeres experience. Wish I'd brought more back. Bright stoney berries. Very refreshing.

CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2003

A magnum won by DL in a works raffle!

No prior experience of this region whatsoever. I read that the grape is sangiovese and the area is tuscany.

It was hugely enjoyable. Earthy, funky nose. Some coffee/dark chocolate? silky, refined tannins. Still retained plenty of power but well balanced. A great wine.

Interesting that aged prestigious wines from different areas made with different grapes seem to converge somewhat over the years - it certainly had something in common with riojas and clarets of a similar price bracket and age.

Ludovic Gaujal Vendanges Extremes

I was convinced to buy this when tasting it at the producera cave in Pinet.

We had searched it out as I'd read favourable reviews and saw that it sold good Picpoul de Pinet. As it was situated in Pinet itself and that turned out to be a 10 minute drive away it seemed remiss not to investigate.

The start was the oak aged Picpoul '1776' a completely new experience and more in that later.

However,  for outright oddness the Vendanges Extremes took the biscuit.

Laguage barrier prevented me from getting a decent understanding of what the production involved but I think it's Picpoul that's been aged in wood, possibly for a long time. Could it perhaps be fortified? The '14% +4%' suggested that may be a possibility?

Nose - very heady. Ripe dried apricot/orange peel. Seems like it's going to taste very alcoholic.

Taste - ripe, honeyed attack yet dry on the finish. Doesn't taste like a high alcohol wine. Shades of dry Spanish sherry?

We were informed that it would be a great accompaniment to froie gras. It's was, but I'd say it's best as an apperetif.

Domaine du Tariquet Premiers Grives Cote de Gascogne

Can't decipher the label but it appears to be put gros mensang.

Explosive apricot. Massively intense. RH declared it 'interesting but too sweet', but is sweet accurate here? I'm not sure it is, given the acidity on the finish. Shades of a point gris but unique really.

Great aperitif or with something really fatty like pork belly.

Domaine du Tariquet always takes me back to the valhalla of bring upgraded on a Manchester-JFK flight en route to IMRF in 2009. The Tariquet flowed like water!

Christmas and New Year wines

A brief note on a very mixed bag of wines consumed over the festive period.

Christmas eve saw two very different reds with very different satisfaction levels:

The Meerlust is a total steal at £10 (WS) - approximately half the price of their flagship version but very robust and interesting nonetheless: loads of leather, tobacco and deep dry fruit. The Montus is an ongoing disappointment (see previous posts on this). I keep hoping the years will add something interesting but I can't see anything emerging that can justify it's prestige. I note that it now at least £23 p/b. I paid about £12 for it en primeur around 6 years ago.

Christmas day and so on to two very smooth clarets:

The years had been kind to them. No trace of any raggedness. Ridiculously easy to drink but the downside was a lack of fruit. It is a natural consequence of wines this age? I suspect the fruit is the hardest thing to preserve as the tannins soften.

When followed later that evening by this morvedre-dominated number we brought back from St Chinian (see previous post on Chateau Bousquette) the contrast was fascinating. The Bousquette had loads of fruit but it seemed somehow vulgar/obvious next the the refinement of the clarets. Not sure what that tells me about my preferences....

The clear pick of the bunch was this splendid Alsatian Gewürztraminer:

Superbly oily, aromatic and hugely satisfying (£13 Majestic). If there's a more consistently enjoyable region for whites I know not of it. RH dismissed it as too sweet. I tried to make the case for it being ripe and somewhat lychee-like but not sweet per se. I got nowhere.

New year saw D&B help us cane all but the last two bottles we brought back from Faugeres:

...which had plenty of the minerally fruit I remember but didn't seem the have that smooth, almost creamy finish that I remember from the 2013 foliday.

This beast was almost comically powerful. A total sledgehammer of a wine with a corresponding 15.5% (!!!) ABV. Strange things are happening in Almansa - definitely place to watch. The value is bonkers. Their standard issue 'Leya' is a magnificent combination of smoky black olives and stone-like dryness (£4.90 - Vinisimus). This 'La Atalaya' (one up from Leya but at £8.79 is some distance of their flagship £17 'Alaya') has all of that but perhaps after a long course of streroids! A blend of Alicante Bouschet and Mourvèdre. The former? Not one I've ever come across before. It seems it's also refereed to as Garnacha Tintorera in Spain but is also claimed to be widely planted in France, according to Jancis Robinson: 'At the turn of the 21st century, Alicante Bouschet was the 12th most planted red wine grape in France with sizable plantings in the Languedoc, Provence and Cognac regions'

This fleurie was light, sappy, supple and refreshing. Yet I can't justify paying £17 (WS) for it.

Weintert Carrascal Mendoza, 2009

Seemingly has one of those strange European names that pervades Argentine culture.

Mendoza sounds like a place I would enjoy: ranches, dusty mountain ranges, red meat by the bucket full and a copious supply of muscular red wines.

This one seems to be exclusive to The Wine Society. It's mix of 35% cabernet sauvignon, 40% malbec and 25% merlot is new to me but it's one of like to see more of. The malbec may responsible for the freshness and hint of violets on the nose. The other two have a claret like feel to them. I'd guess this would be totally overpowering in its youth but it's very well balanced now.

Very hard to see these characteristics replaced elsewhere for less than its £7.80 price tag.

2014 Langedoc haul - part 2

Domanie La Grangette

Piquepoul noir (7€/£5.80).

No nose to speak of. Light colour, juicy raspberry fruit, light sappy tannins. Refreshing, almost thirst quenching - dangerously so! Definitely something of the gamay about it. Gutted I didn't get more of this.

2014 Languedoc haul - part 1

Château Bousquette Tradition Saint-Chinian 2012

Stumbled across this place accidentally after taking a wrong turn on my way back from Cessenson-sur-Orb. Madame Perret was a joy. She answered my inane questions with good humour and even had a view on Fabian Cancellara!  

This was their mid-price option which was still worked out at £5.20. Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre. Benefitted greatly from decanting. Had that minerally, earthy fruit I remember from Faugeres. I tried many Grenache/Syrah blends from other areas closer to the coast but they don't seem to have the the depth and velvety edge that Faugeres or St Chinan. Is it the addition of Mourvedre? Terroir? 

 I'd estimate this to be priced at around £10-12 in the UK, which would tip the scales against it for me but at £5.20 it's a marvel. 

La Patrie Cahors 2012

An absolute shocker of a wine. Advertised as '£11 reduced to £6' it remains terrible value at either price point. Thin, sharp and totally lacking in any fruit of any kind. Odorless. Couldn't finish my glass. It went into a coq au vin.

This highlights Sainsburys folly in trying to flog the malbec grape to supermarket consumers by 'dressing it up' with the prestige of the Cahors region. The end result is to defile both. You wonder who on earth actually produces this stuff? Sadly, it's a very long time since I had an interesting Cahors at a sensible price (La Grillade). Granted you don't see it often in the UK (entry point is typically at least £10) but you would think they would want to to cash in on the explosion of interest around Argentine malbecs? The worry here is that this may be a microcosm of a wider problem within the French wine industry: dogged refusal to accept that the cachet of their terroir/regional branding is nowhere near as powerful a draw as they would like it to be. Globalisation means that consumers are increasingly unlikely to care less where the product comes from or what 'heritage' they are buying into.

Vina Ludy, Albarino, Rias Baixas, 2012

Given to me by PVM after our sub zero camping trip in Derbyshire. I gave him a Sicilian shiraz in return.

I fear I got the better deal. Elderflower nose. Initially the pallet gives a strong nutty flavour (at least it did on day 1, that's faded now day 3 has arrived). The fruit is complex. I can't articulate it very well but there's perhaps more elderflower, lychee? Plenty of racy citrus to follow.

Interesting, rewarding and well worth adding to the dry white repertoire. (£8 Morrisons) but is much more restrained and subtle than (and thus doesn't quite have the impact of) the last Picopul I wrote about (just 50p more expensive). 

Rias Baixas is not somewhere I've considered since the 1999 era of Spanish experimentation. In my mind I'd imagined it to be located north west of Ribera de Duero but I hadn't realised just how close it is to the extreme fringes of Galicia:

...where the climate is 'Atlantic' meaning lots of rain and fog with summer temperatures 'rarely exceeding 30C'. Which makes you wonder why we can't produce more decent white wine in the UK. Perhaps the lack of available land means that we could never produce good enough quality wine at a competitive enough price for the enterprise to be worthwhile?

Lascar Carmenere 2013

My first taste of this grape variety. I read that '"Carménère" originates from the French word for crimson (carmin)' and was once grown as a blending grape in Bordeaux, as per modern day Petit Verdot.

I took a gamble on this primarily on its price (£5.75) and the positive comments from Wine Society members on their site.

What it does have in common with some Bordeaux is the nose: distinct pencil lead and earthy fruit. In fact, it smells a lot better than it tastes, although the pallet itself is decent enough: bramble, earth, medium body. Very respectable given the absurdly low price. 

Why it is mainly grown in Chile rather than France? Apparently it never recovered from Phylloxera in France. Chilean growers thought they were growing a variant of Merlot until 1994! It would be interesting to taste this alongside a 100% merlot to see if similarities are obvious.  

Cerro Syrah, Chapa Valley, 2012

We are promised 'mint-tinged cherry fruit with notes of toasty oak'.

There is a strange, vaguely herby edge but it's totally dominated by its acidity. Way lighter than any other syrah/shiraz I've tried. The fruit is pretty sour, frankly: highly acidic and very dry.

Thus M&S 100% recent record comes to an end: a poor use of £8.50. I've never heard of the Chapa Valley and perhaps this is the reason why.